I've been casually monitoring this thread, and am not aware of the whole
proposal's content and ramifications. Please excuse shortcomings in my
input on the issue.
 
With all of this ballyhoo about the ROPA and the SHA, I have failed to see
the tangible benefit of the establishment of a registry to the individual
archaeologist. Maybe the Teamster's strike with UPS has me thinking, but
what is this society going to do for me if I am going to pay dues to be
registered and become a card-carrying "professional archaeologist." Our
sheepskins and C.V.'s are our true credentials, what does the ROPA propose
to do to supercede these?
 
John Gifford put forth that we already have several versions of ethical
standards in print, which we all should be aware of already. Is the ROPA
going to prioritize an initiative to disseminate these standards (or those
that it decides upon), and how does it propose to do this better than the
status quo? What type of enforcement of policy is proposed? How is the ROPA
going to work officially with local, state, federal and international
governments to better archaeology for the archaeologists and the public?
And how does this fit in with academic projects?
 
I am concerned that there is a lot of time being spent to create a paper
tiger that is, as John put it, reinventing the wheel. Or, are we looking at
a future where contract firms are going to become "union shops" and will we
have "scab" excavations?
 
Casually, comparisons to the AMA were brought up, which really got me
thinking. The American Medical Association, and groups like it, are a lot
more than a board that sets up ethical standards. Journals and other
publications, conferrences, continuing education, licensing programs, legal
defense, multi- platform insurance, political lobbying, collection of
research and curation... them's some pretty big shoes, there, daddy.
 
So what's the ROPA going to do? Administer a board examination to
graduating students of Archaeology and issue them a certification number?
Sponsor international, national and local conferrences and seminars for
continuing education credit? Require submission of case statements and
reports on all archaeological work, catalog and curate the collection and
make it available to all archaeologists? Publish a monthly journal of the
Association's doings, as well as the most critical and current field and
lab work? Lobby with governments to protect cultual resources and create
work and funding for its membership? Offer group insurance and
mal-excavation protection? Set this up, and I'll get out my check book
right now.
 
If you just want a registry of archaeologists who are informed of what you
all decide is the way to do it, save time and money and set up an online
form that links to a database and do it automatically and post your
standards and code of ethics on the WWW. Or you could call universities and
get the names of their graduates from the rolls and mail it to them.
 
Most importantly, how is any of this going to stop pot and treasure hunting?
 
David Johnson